Snowplow



Jan. 6, 1942'. G. WANDSCHEER 2,269,326

SNOWPLOW Filed Sept. 25, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VEN TOR. Lau M Jan. 6, 1942. G. WANDSCZHEER SNOWPLOW 2 Sheets-She et 2 Filed Sept. 25, 1959 INVENTOR. naw/1W ATTORN Y Patented 1.... 6, 1942 I SNOWPLOW Gerrit Wandscheer, Sioux Center, Iowa Application September 25, 1939, Serial No. 296,460 (or. 37-43) Claims.

My invention relates to a snow plow for highway use.

An object of my invention is to provide a snow plow which includes a conveying member which 7 bores spirally in the road bed in the direction of travel and thereby positively drags the snow rearwardly into the mechanism for conveying the snow thus impelled to the sides of the roadway.

A further object of my invention is to provide auxiliary end boring members which assist in conveying the snow into the fan.

A further object of my invention is to provide the auxiliary members so arranged to provide the most positive action.

A further object of my invention is to tilt the entire plow arrangement so that the effective edges will be more favorably disposed for the cutting operation.

A further object of my invention is to provide a spout arrangement which can be readily forced to either side of the plow for deflecting snow to either side of the roadway.

A further object of my invention is to provide a fan structure which can be reversed independently of the other units, and to provide a structure which breaks down the side walls of the snow as the machine progresses, and to provide such a structure which can be built at a reasonable cost of manufacture.

With these and other objects in view, my invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of my device, whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a transverse section taken longitudinally along the axis of the plow,

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken along the lines 2-2 of Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a forward elevation,

Figure 4 is a rear elevation,

Figure 5 is a modified form of the fan reversing arrangement, and

Figure 6 is a sectional view taken along the lines 6-6 of Figure 5.

I have used the character Ill'to designate generally a truck or other such means for pushing the plow forwardly. Attached to the vehicle III are the braces II and I2 which are attached to the vertical channeled members I3. Received within the members l3 are the slidable members H (see Figure 4) which are attached to a cross bar l5. The bar I5 is attached at I6 to the plunger l1 which is attached to a piston in the cylinder l8. A hydraulic line l9 runs to the vehicle and pressure applied within the cylinder l8 will raise the plow to a desired elevation. The cylinder I8 is mounted upon the bracket 20 which is attached to the stationary portions l3. A cylindrical drum 2| which includes the rear wall I 22 and a forward wall 23 carries the fan blades The forward wall member 23 includes the cut out portions at 25 (see Figure 3) and the lower end of the wall 23 includes a bearing 26 into which is journalled the shaft 21. The shaft 21 extends forwardly and is attached to the hub 28 which hub is attached to the deflecting spokes 29 which spokes in turn are attached to the cutting blades 30. The blades 38 are bent in an outward spiral but are of limited length and each of such blades is upon its own line of curvature with the rear ends 3| being slightly inwardly from the outer ends 32. The blades are attached to the spokes 29 at 33. The shaft 21 extends rearwardly and is journalled within the bearing 34. Afllxed to the shaft 21 is the large gear 35. A further hollow shaft 36 is journalled within the bearing 31 and to a casing 38 at 39. Attached to the hollow shaft 36 is a sprocket 40 over which passes the chain 4| which in turn engages a further sprocket 42 which sprocket 42 is freely journalled upon the shaft 43 which is journalled at 44. The shaft 43 extends into the square shaft portion 45 upon which is mounted a gear 46 which is locked against rotation upon the square portion 45 but which, however, can be moved longitudinally along the shaft 45. The gear 46 is adapted to mesh with the further gear 41 during a certain rotational direction of the fan and the gear 41 is affixed to the shaft 36. A further smaller gear 48 is attached to the forward extremity'of the shaft 43. A small fork member 48 passes through the casing at 50 to the connection at 5| which is controlled by means of the member 52 from the vehicle. The casing 38 is supported by means of a suitable annular ring 53 and it will be noted that practically all of the casing is within the fan structure with the exception of certain minor projecting portions. The shaft 43 extends to the universal connection 54 which is connected at 55 to the vehicle. A pair of forward shafts 56 and 16 are attached to the hubs 51 which merge with the spokes 58 which spokes are attached at 59 to the blades 60. The blades 60 are alike in practically all respects to the blades 38 except that the blades 60 are smaller and they are arranged in substantially the same manner and the structure formed between the spokes 58 and the blades 68 form a similar unit to the larger members with the exception that they are considerably smaller.

It will be noted that there are two of such units situated at the rear lower corner of the plow casing. The side cutting members 6I converge toward the rear of the plow and merge with the wall 23 and an arcuate shield 62 merges with the horizontal member 63 which in turn are attached to the side ,members 6|. arrangement is provided by means of the plates 64 which extend into the cutting edges 65 which extend rearwardly and upwardly forming a V shaped structure.-

The blades 68 rotate in the direction shown by the arrows 66 which in effect is in opposed relation and each series of blades thereby operates toward the center of the machine. The fan blades 24 are connected at 61 to the spokes 68 which in turn are connected to the hub 69 which is attached to the hollow shaft 36. The shaft 56 which is attached to the forward blades 68 extends rearwardly through the casing and is attached to the sprocket I8 over which passes the chain II. The chain 'II engages a' further sprocket I2 and the arrangement is enclosed by means of the casing I3. The shaft 21 also extends rearwardly through the bushing 34 and is attached to a further sprocket I4 over which passes the chain I and which chain passes over a suitable sprocket to drive the further shaft I6 which is connected to the other series of blades 68 attached to the other rotating member as' shown in Figure 3. Since the shaft 21 is driven through engagement with the gear 48 the shafts 21 and 43 are rotated in an opposed direction.

Since the sprockets I8 and I4 are connected to such shafts, their direction of rotation will be correspondingly opposite and the blades 68 are thereby rotated as explained in the direction of the arrows 66. It will be noted that the sprocket I2 will be larger than the sprocket in the casing 11 which encloses the upper shaft arrangement, and this is necessary to correspondingly decrease the speed so that the blades 68 will travel at the same speed. During normal operation of the plow it is necessary to change the direction of rotation of the fan blades 24.

As shown in Figure 1 the rotation of the blades will be in one direction due to the attachment to the hollow shaft 36. This is caused by the locking of the gear 46 with the gear 41 and meanwhile the gear 42 is riding freely upon the shaft 43. To change the direction of the fan, however, the fork member 49 is pushed inwardly by means of the members 52 which carry the gear 46 into locked engagement with the shoulder 18 which includes suitable locking indents, so that as a result the sprocket 42 will be effectively locked against rotation and will rotate the further sprocket 48 through the chain 4I. Since the arrangement is then not a reverse gear arrangement but is directly chain driven, correspondingly the direction of the fan will be reversed so that in the above manner this effect can be obtained. To deflect the snow to either side of the roadway I provide the hydraulic cylinder I9 which is attached at 88 to a bracket 8I which is attached at 82 to the casing 2 I. A piston within the cylinder I9 is attached to a rod 83 and is pivoted at 84 to a cross bar 85.

The cross bar is attached between the two side spout members 86 and the side members 86 include the outwardly bent lower portions 81 which are received within suitable channels 88 at either A lower cutting side of the casing and above the drum 2I (see Figures 1 and 2). The side members 86 are attached solidly to a further arcuate member 88 which merges with the inwardly inclined portions 81 so that the member 89 also rides within the channels 88, it being understood that any construction can be employed suitable for this purpose. The member 89 includes the opening 88 which is directly over the opening 9| in the drum 2|. The opening 9| extends substantially from the points 92 to whereas the opening 88 extends in a more restricted manner from the points 94 to 95. The hydraulic cylinder I9 is suitably connected to the pipe 96 which passes to the vehicle and the cylinder I9 is operated through pressure or suction means to swing the arrangement to one side or the other.

It will be noted that since the sides I6 are attached to the member 89 that when the plunger in the cylinder 19 is operated, the rod 83 will force the entire slidable arrangement to one side or the other. For instance, through pressure in the cylinder, the arrangement will be swung to the left thereby bringing the point 94 substantially adjacent to the point 92 and carrying the point 95 further over to the left. This, then, leaves an opening at the left hand side of the drum allowing the snow to be whirled and thrown in this direction and the same operation can be performed for the right hand direction with the fan blades suitably reversed as previously explained. An upper deflecting shield 96 is attached to a shaft 91 which passes through the rear wall 86 and is attached to a suitable small hydraulic motor 98 which is connected through the pipe 99 which passes to the vehicle and which includes one or more small tubes for reversing direction of the hydraulic unit so that the shield 96 can be swung from one side to the other corresponding to the openings effected by the above described arrangement.

Figures 5 and 6 illustrate a modification involving a different reversing arrangement than that heretofore described. In this arrangement, the shaft I88 which is driven from the vehicle similar to the shaft 43 in the foregoing arrangement is attached to a gear I8I which meshes with the larger gear I82 which is rigidly attached to the shaft 21 which shaft is attached to the aforeaid boring hub 28 to which is attached the blades 38. The hollow shaft I83 is attached to the fan structure previously described and slidably engaged with the hollow shaft I83 is the further gear I84 which engages with the lengthened key I upon which the gear I84 is free to slide longitudinally but which can not rotate thereupon.

A further gear I86 is attached to the shaft I88 ahead of the gear IN and is rigidly attached thereto. A gear I81 which extends beyond the gear I86 and which is wider than the same rotates upon a further shaft I88. A further forward gear I89 is keyed to the shaft I88 at 8. The gear I84 includes an indent III in which is received the tongue II2 of the rod II3 which extends rearwardly through the casing as shown. As shown in Figure 5 the gears are not engaged, however, when the rod H3 is thrust forwardly, the gear I84 will engage with the gear I89 thereby providing a certain direction of rotation of the fan structure.

If it is desired to reverse the direction, the rod H3 is drawn rearwardly which carries the gear I84 into mesh with the gear I8'I. This sets up a reverse rotation to the fan structure since the gear I01 reverses the direction imparted by the shaft I and since the gear I01 is constantly in mesh with the gear I01 the fan will be rotated in the opposite direction. The gear I0! is idle until the reversing action is applied.

Through the foregoing structure it will be observedthat as the blades 30 cut into the snow that the same is thereby conveyed rearwardly, through the boring action thereof, where it is carried by the small blades 60 toward the center of the machine and into the fan blades which then carry the snow outwardly through the spout arrangement. It will be noted that the lower blades 60 are situated at the most advantageous position for this purpose which is at the lower portions of the plow and it will be noted that they are proportioned in such a manner as to effectively carry the snow directly toward the center of the machine.

It will also be seen that I have provided a snow plow which is properly tilted to provide the most efficient boring action to the units, which includes means for throwing snow to either side of the roadway and that I have provided an arrangement which can be efficiently and readily controlled.

Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of the parts of my invention without departing from the real spirit and purpose of my invention, and it is my intention to cover by my claims any modified forms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents, which may be reasonably included within their scope.

I claim as my invention:

1. A snow plow comprising a forward boring and conveying member, having a central shaft,

the shaft of such member extending forwardly,

- of side members attached to said arcuate memsaid bc' .ng member being pitched at a slight angle from the vertical, side cutting members positioned adjacent to said boring member, said side cutting members extending forwardly to the outer cutting limits of said conveying member, a fan mounted rearwardly of said conveying memher, a pair of lower conveying members positioned inwardly adjacent said side cutting members and spaced inwardly from said boring member.

2. A snow plow comprising a forward boring and conveying member, having a central shaft,

the shaft of such member extending forwardly, said boring member being pitched at a slight angle from the vertical, side cutting member positioned adjacent to said boring member, said side cutting members extending forwardly to the outer cutting limits of said conveying member, a fan mounted rearwardly of said conveying memher, a pair of lower conveying members positioned inwardly adjacent said side cutting members and spaced inwardly from said boring mem-- ber, said lower conveying members including a plurality of peripherally and inwardly inclined blades for conveying snow.

3. A snow plow comprising a forward boring and conveying member, having a central shaft, the shaft of such member extending forwardly, said boring member being pitched at a slight angle from the vertical, side cutting members positioned adjacent to said boring member, said side cutting members extending forwardly to the outer cutting limits of said conveying member, a fan mounted rearwardly of said conveying member, a pair of lower conveying memb'e'rs positioned inwardly adjacent said side cutting members and spaced inwardly from said boring member, said lower conveying members including aplurality of peripherally and inwardly inclined blades for conveying snow, said fan including a centrally depressed portion, a casing included in said portion, means for reversing said fan positioned within said casing.

4. A snow plow casing including a drum, a reversible chute including an arcuate portion having an opening freely slidable over said drum, said drum having a further opening larger than the opening in said arcuate member to provide an offset opening on either side of said drum, a pair member, a pair of further conveying members positioned in the lower corners of said casing, a fan positioned rearwardly of said members for throwing snow outwardly of said casing, means for reversing direction of said fan including a hollow shaft attached to the fan,-a gear freely movable longitudinally along said hollow shaft, a further driving shaft, a forward gear attached to said driving shaft adapted to mesh with said slidable gear, a further rearward gear attached to said driving shaft, an idler gear meshing with said rearward further gear, an arm for moving said slidable gear for providing engagement of the same with either said forward gear or said idler gear, means for driving said further conveying members in opposed relation, including sprockets attached to said conveying members and to said boring member, driving means attached between said sprockets.

' GERRIT WANDSCHEER. 

